Last summer, my colleagues and I were advised to reapply for the very jobs we’ve been doing for more than a decade, only this time with a lower pay and to another company. It raised urgent questions: Should we accept this? Is survival more important than dignity, principle, and justice? What does this say about the society we live in?
What we are witnessing is not new. For years, frontline workers (the ones who do the actual teaching, training, caring, building, and serving) have been squeezed while executives and owners continue to take more. The logic is depressingly consistent: reduce costs at the bottom and maximise gains at the top. However, when the “cost” being cut results to unfair compensation for skilled and experienced educators, the implications run deeper than numbers. It is about respect, sustainability, and the erosion of trust in the very institutions that claim to uphold justice and wellbeing.
It is even more troubling when such practices are reinforced through organisations’ official bidding and tendering processes. By prioritising the lowest price over fair treatment, institutions become complicit in perpetuating inequity. The result is a slow but steady degradation of professions that should be valued and protected, not hollowed out.
The question is: can something be done? Yes, if teachers, organisations, and society refuse to normalise this downward spiral. It is essential to have collective resistance, greater transparency in contracting, and ethical standards that go beyond the bottom line.
If we continue to accept less (less pay, less respect, less principle), we concede to a system that is already tilted against fairness. We – teachers, trainers, and coaches -deserve better, and so does the society that relies on us.
Money: I pay the bills.
Moral Value: Yes, but I make people want to keep you around.
Money: Without me, you can’t survive.
Moral Value: Without me, you can’t justify your existence.
… And the eternal battle continues: One buys the groceries, the other stops me from being reduced to a buy-one-get-one-free coupon or 30-50% discount (to be eaten by tomorrow).
It’s with sadness (and a tiny bit of joy) that I share I’m no longer teaching at the organisation I once called my second home. My husband used to say “You leave home smiling, and you come back smiling even more.” These days, I still smile, mostly because no one asks me to correct homework at 10 PM.
I now have time to blog and comment on posts like it’s my unpaid therapy. If my jokes and puns don’t make you laugh, just know they’re a small act of solidarity with those of us getting absolutely steamrolled by the “money vs. moral value” economy.
On the bright side, my novel, “Whisper of Regrets”, has just been translated into French, “Plus Que Des Regrets”.
On the brighter side, I got this feedback about Where you Are Really From:
“I’m up to chapter 8 of your book. I really am enjoying reading it. A lot of it really is internal thoughts and feelings or experiences I’ve had myself. I spend a lot of time unpacking the feelings, intent, impact and reactions when these things happen even through reflection of things that have happened in the past”.
… “he worries about his English pronunciation and his accent. This made me reflect on your chapter about accents as well”.
“Your chapter about food as well is very relatable. Having experiences as a child when mum would send me to school with chicken and rice and being bullied about it because it wasn’t a peanut butter sandwich. Even as an adult people commenting on ‘smells of food’ in the microwave at work. Most people are curious in a positive way now, but from time to time you still get the odd commentary and people not aware of the impact of their words”.
(The whole article is on www.roladesocietalblog.com)